OCZ to Release External USB 3.0 Solid-State Drive.

OCZ Technology Group, a leading supplier of DRAM- and flash memory-based products, on Tuesday announced that it would unveil an external solid-state drive (SSD) with USB 3.0 interface. The device will hardly become popular due to scarce availability of USB 3.0, however, it will get OCZ the title of the world’s first SSD with SuperSpeed USB interface.

OCZ will deliver the globe’s first solid-state drive with USB 3.0 interface in partnership with Symwave, a supplier of various system controllers. In particular, OCZ will use SW6315 – USB 3.0 to Serial ATA controller from Symwave. The chip will enable interconnection between personal computers featuring USB 3.0 support and the new SSD at the speed of up to 5Gb/s. Other performance figures of the forthcoming products are to be announced.

“Thanks to Symwave’s industry leading USB 3.0 storage controller, our external SSD device delivers 10x the transfer rate of USB 2.0 at 5Gb/s, as well as several ‘green’ improvements including superior power management and lower CPU utilization,” said Eugene Chang, vice president of product management at the OCZ Technology Group.

Considering the fact that USB 3.0 will not be a part of mainstream personal computers until 2011 and the next generation of I/O controllers from Advanced Micro Devices and Intel Corp., it is unlikely that the SuperSpeed USB SSD from OCZ Technology will gain any popularity in 2010. Nevertheless, it will attract attention to OCZ brand and will allow the company to address customers with specific demands.

OCZ will unveil its USB 3.0 SSD at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada from January 7-10, 2010.